BYE-BYE, BETO
◆ Former El Paso congressman exits presidential race, saying campaign doesn’t “have the means” to continue.
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas announced he is dropping out of the presidential race, ending a campaign in which he struggled for months to recapture the energy of his insurgent 2018 Senate candidacy on a national stage full of other big personalities and liberal champions.
O’Rourke made the decision to quit the race on the eve of a gathering Friday of Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa, according to people familiar with his thinking. He is not expected to run for any other office in 2020, despite persistent efforts by party leaders and political donors to coax him into another bid for the Senate.
His campaign has been under extreme financial strain, and O’Rourke’s advisers concluded that proceeding in the race might have meant making deep cuts to his staff in order to pay for advertising and other measures to compete in the early primary and caucus state.
O’Rourke confirmed his withdrawal in a post on Medium and in email message to his supporters. In that message, O’Rourke said he was proud of championing issues like gun control and climate change but conceded that his campaign lacked “the means to move forward successfully.”
By leaving the race, O’Rourke completes the winding path from his early status as a potential front-runner to his drastic decision over the summer to reframe his candidacy as an activist crusader after the mass shooting targeting Latinos in his home city of El Paso.
At a rally in Des Moines on Friday evening, O’Rourke told supporters he made his decision “so recently and so reluctantly.”
“We have to clearly see at this point that we do not now have the means” to continue, he said, adding: “Though this is the end of this campaign, we are right in the middle of this fight.”
At the last Democratic debate, a pair of O’Rourke’s donors met with him about the possibility of quitting the race to run for Senate in Texas against John Cornyn, who is up for reelection. O’Rourke told them he was not running for Senate, according to people familiar with the matter.
A spokesman to O’Rourke reiterated that stance Friday. “Beto will not be a candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas in 2020,” said Rob Friedlander, an aide to O’Rourke.